NCAA Tournament 2013 Midwest Region — Day 2

After six games in the Midwest Region on Thursday, the NCAA Tournament features only two contests Friday.

Second-seeded Duke shook off the ghost of last year's stunning early exit by polishing off the Albany Great Danes .The region’s other game saw 10th-seeded Cincinnati come up short against All-American Doug McDermott and seventh-seeded Creighton.

(2) Duke 73, (15) Albany 61

Last year, Duke was a #2 seed that was stunned in the second round by Lehigh, but history was not going to repeat itself. Duke maintained a comfortable lead throughout the day en route to finishing off Albany. The Blue Devils rode the hot hands of Seth Curry (26 points) and Mason Plumlee (23 points, nine rebounds) to victory. The pair led a very efficient Duke offense that shot 59% from the field. Jacob Iati led the Great Danes with 15 points.

(7) Creighton 67, (10) Cincinnati 63

In a back and forth affair where no team could pull away, Creighton held on to move to the round of 32. Bluejays All-American Doug McDermott was brilliant, posting 27 points (including a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line) and 11 rebounds. Creighton was up by six with under a minute to play, and Cincinnati cut it one, but could get no closer and Sean Kilpatrick missed an off-balance 3 to tie the game with less than 10 seconds to play. This game may have very well been won at the free throw line, where Creighton scored 22 points, compared to four by Cincinnati. The Bearcats were led by Kilpatrick’s 19 points.